Author's Note
Sorry it's been a while. School's been taking my time, and finals are here (though to be honest, it's hardly like I study anyway). This one takes place earlier on in Ruby and Weiss's relationship, before they became closer and Weiss became more "defrosted". They are friends at this point, but it's not something Weiss is likely to admit. I like to imagine her as starting off as a bit of an ice queen, and then become a bit of a tsundere with emphasis on the tsun due to Ruby and eventually showing more of the dere as time passes.
Title: Light Flush, Sickly Pallor.
Characters: Ruby, Weiss.
Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort.
Summary: Weiss is sick, and alone in her convalescence. Ruby proceeds to invite herself over to help take care of her.
"...What?" Weiss asked flatly as she looked out her open door at Ruby. Outside Ruby stood there with a bright grin and her eyes half shut with just how wide her smile is. She had on her usual red cloak with the hood up and a bag dangling in front of her with the straps clasped in her hands.
Most people would probably find such a greeting rather unfriendly and unwelcome. Ruby however took this as a personal victory. It wasn't too long ago that Weiss would've simply slammed the door in her face. She took the fact that the door was still open and Weiss was actually waiting for a response as a good sign.
"I heard you were sick, so I came over to check up on you!" Ruby answered cheerily. Taking a look at the half of Weiss not hidden behind the door her smile slipped a little. Although Weiss wasn't the type of girl to spend a lot of time on vanities, she still took pride in everything she did, including her appearance which typically showed quite well. This was rather in contrast to her current appearance. Despite the time of day she was still unchanged in a set of plain cotton pyjamas and looking rather disheveled. Her hair was loose and messy instead of being pulled back in it's usual stylish ponytail. Her eyes were a little sunken in and dull with a look of tiredness. Weiss normally had a rather pale skin tone, but rather than her normal fair complexion it was more of a sickly pallor.
Narrowing her eyes at a slight shake she saw in Weiss's frame Ruby pushed the door in and declared loudly with a frown "You look terrible."
"Wha...!?" Taken aback by the sudden action Weiss stumbled backwards, pinwheeling her arms for balance. Stepping through the doorway Ruby quickly put down the basket and then spun so that she was facing the same way as Weiss and kneeled down to position herself under one of her flailing arms to catch her. Wrapping one arm around her waist and using her other to pull Weiss's arm around her shoulders Ruby stood back up, helping support some of Weiss's weight.
Closing the door with a kick of her foot Ruby continued inward half-dragging Weiss alongside her as she protested feebly. Ruby frowned as she tried to remember where Weiss's room was. She had been here before, albeit not for a personal visit as it is now. She found herself rather worried at the moemnt about Weiss. If she were to just barge in like this on any other day she would likely find herself beaten up by Weiss and back on the other side of the door by now.
Finally finding Weiss's room Ruby announces "Alright! You stay here in bed while I go and get what I brought ready. I'll be back in a few minutes." Pausing to unload Weiss onto her bed Ruby steps back out of the room.
Weiss feeling exhaused drags herself from the edge of the bed under the blankets towards the head of the bed muttering the whole time under her breath about brutish neanderthals and other similar gripes. Flopping her head tiredly onto a pillow Weiss stared blankly at the ceiling above her. Despite her exhaustion she still couldn't manage to fall asleep. She hadn't been able to sleep well aall throughout the night either and had actually been trying to fall asleep prior to Ruby's intrusion as well.
Feeling a shiver Weiss drew herself tighter, curling in on herself with the blankets for warm. She quickly found her thoughts wandering off as she had a little trouble concentrating on anything, even her annoyance at Ruby which was normally a favourite topic of hers. She had no idea how long she was there before she heard Ruby come back in. Lifting her head slightly she managed to just barely see Ruby's face.
Seeing Weiss looking up Ruby plastered on a large smile. Walking over she placed the tray she held down onto the nightstand next to the bed. The top of the nightstand itself was already empty but for an alarm clock. In fact, most of the rooms were fairly barren. Ruby paused for a moment to take a look at their surroundings. The only other objects in the bedroom were a dresser and a mirror with no other ornamentation. In fact, the only other thing of note at all in the other rooms were a couple of rather full bookshelves.
Brightening up again Ruby lifted up a slightly steaming bowl from the tray and gestured it towards Weiss. "It's chicken noodle soup!" Ruby chirped cheerily. All she got in return was a sullen stare from Weiss who was still a little miffed at her brazen audacity in coming in like she owned the place. "It's something people have when they're sick," she explained with a gesture as if instructing a child.
Weiss simply continued giving her a withering look. As she opened her mouth to tell the other girl that she wanted nothing to do with her soup, another shudder wracked her body which she did not quite manage to fully suppress. Ruby gave a frown as a curtain of snow white hair turned to face her with Weiss turning her head down to the side. "I've never...quite been this sick before," came out in a whisper from Weiss, hating this show of weakness in front of another.
Biting her lip Ruby asked, "Do you think you can manage to eat by yourself?" Pushing back her previous thoughts of denying the soup Weiss began to shakily reach for the spoon, refusing to give in to the idea that she would be unable to feed herself. Picking up the spoon Weiss cursed as her arm would not stop that infernal shaking. Seeing all the soup splashing back into the bowl Ruby reached out and plucked the spoon out of the sick girl's hand before she ended up spilling soup everywhere.
Her voice came out rather hesitantly at first, "Well, since this doesn't appear to be working..." Pausing for a moment mid-sentence Ruby stilled before quickly throwing on a happier face and exclaiming, "I'll just have to feed you instead!" Weiss taken aback immediately opened her mouth to bite off an indignant retort. Before she could say anything however she found that Ruby had already shoved a spoonful of soup into her mouth.
Surprised Weiss reflexively closed her mouth and then Ruby pulled the spoon back out between her lips as she swalloed the soup. "It's...not bad," Weiss admitted with slightly flushed cheeks bringing a small amount of colour to her pale skin. She lowered her head again, not quite able to bring herself to say aloud that she found it quite good. The darker haired girl merely gave wordless smile and held up another spoonful of soup.
They continued in that manner for a while in silence. Ruby sat at the edge of the bed as she fed Weiss spoonfuls of soup who was too tired to resist, not having eaten much by herself prior. Weiss's bangs hung down covering her eyes in a poor attempt to hide herself from Ruby, but it would be obvious to any observer that her exhaustion was taking over. Halfway through the soup Ruby paused to give Weiss some medicine she had procured, the exchange occured silently without incident.
Ten minutes later Weiss's posture was visibly slumped down betraying her drowsiness. She seemed a lot more relaxed than she normally was in Ruby's presence and her eyes drifted in and out of focus.
The spoon was placed back into the empty bowl with a clinking sound. "Thank you, it was very good," Weiss murmured tiredly in an uncharacteristic show of appreciation towards Ruby who immediately glowed at such rare words from her. The shivers by this point had subsided a bit, but a slight tremble was still noticable.
"I used to have chicken noodle soup whenever I got sick as a kid," Ruby explained as she stood up to being clearing up the tray. "I was always out playing in the dirt, or in the cold so that was pretty often.." Her smile softened a little as she neared the door holding the tray. "My mom used to make it for me..." At this Ruby trailed off and grimaced, turning to the side.
"Mother..." Ruby heard Weiss whisper in an odd tone of voice she'd never heard from her before. Eager to get get away from the topic of her own mother she turned back to look at Weiss only to find her trembling a rather alarming amount.
Putting the tray on top of the dresser Ruby immediately rushed back to Weiss's side in concern. "Hey Weiss, are you alright?" Ruby said worriedly as she put a hand to the shaking girl's shoulder.
"Mom..." Weiss choked out in a sob. This time it was much more obvious what was happening, she was crying. Ruby's eyes widened in panic. Weiss didn't cry, she barely showed any emotion most of the time. What little she did show was more often then not varying levels of disdain, annoyance, or anger. More often than not these were directed towards Ruby. She was not at all equipped to deal with a crying Weiss.
"Umm, there there?" Ruby awkwardly wrapped an arm around the weeping girl patting her other shoulder in a poor attempt to console her. Apparently her mother was a sensitive issue for her, though Ruby was pretty sure that she wouldn't be so affected under normal circumstances by such an unrelated offhand comment. It was probably a combination of the sickness, tiredness, and medicine. Nevertheless, it meant that right now she had a crying shaking Weiss in her arms and would have to deal with it.
Ruby sat there for some time against the headboard holding a slumped over Weiss. Her shakes and sobs slowly subsided with no further exchanges of words between the two. Ruby had no idea what to say to offer any emotional support so she just held on to show that she was there in an attempt to offer some physical support.
"Warm..." Weiss let out in a soft sigh as she drifted towards sleep once more. With that she leaned back further into Ruby's embrace, trying to press herself further into the warmth. Ruby felt a blush coming on at the intimacy of their position, innocent as it was.
Brushing a lock of white hair from the sleeping girls face Ruby found herself smiling yet again today. Some dried tear tracks still lingered on her face, but she thought that Weiss looked so peaceful now, so calm and innocent in her sleep. It was a nice contrast to the blank or harsh expressions that she usually wore. Ruby thought that a softer expressions such as this fit her better, it was cute.
By this time Weiss had finally fallen fully asleep. Slowly shifting Ruby unwound herself as gently as possible so as not to disturb the sleeping girl. She lowered Weiss down to her pillow, leaving a billow of long white hair around her head. She paused to tuck her into her blankets before turning to exit the room.
Torso turned back to face the room halfway out the door Ruby whispered, "Sweet dreams."
Author's Note
Hmm, not entirely sure how I feel about the ending. I had a few ideas about how I wanted it to go, and I ended up with a bit of a mash up of two of them. Not too sure if it feels rights though. Kinda wanted to go into Weiss's family, but I couldn't find away to make it fit without feeling super forced, oh well, you'll just have to wonder until I get around to it, if ever. Man, I never would've guessed I would ever end up writing sappy stuff like this.